Introducing: Link Love… with a TWIST

Want to know what the final product looks like? Check out the first ever Link Love with a TWIST here!

Everyone who reads this blog on a regular basis hopefully knows how important the blogging community is to me. I have said it before, but it bears repeating – the connections I have made, and the people I have met, are what has truly made this experience worthwhile for me.

I can’t remember the last time I have been involved in something that has left me speechless with gratitude, but that is exactly how I feel day after day – plain and simple. Every day I wake up and see the remarkable way we support one another – whether it is via contests like Full Time Fabulous or Refinery29′s The Next Big Style Blogger, retweets of posts that resonate with us, helping when someone needs blogging pointers, or rising up together when someone is wronged – the people in this community are there for one another. That deserves more recognition and applause than I could ever give, but I am honored and humbled to be a part of it.

So… that was a rather long way of coming to the main point of this post. For the past couple of months I have been trying to think of a way to GIVE BACK on a regular occasion. The “Your Favorite Post of the Year” Blog Event I held at the beginning of January was a huge success, and I plan to repeat it, but I want to do something more than that. Which brings me to today.

Link Love… with a TWIST

The inspiration for this new feature is – undoubtedly – IFB’s Links a la Mode (LALM). I think LALM is one of the best platforms available in the blogosphere today to spread link love while introducing other bloggers to your own work. It’s a wonderful resource that every blogger should take advantage of (if you aren’t sure how it works, V from grit and glamour just recently posted the king of all tutorial’s on how to submit a post to LALM).

So how is this different? Instead of promoting your own work, Link Love… with a TWIST is about promoting the work of others.

I will compile the submissions and post the finalized list on my blog on Monday.

I will also include a way for participants to copy the post onto their blog as well, just as is done in LALM.

I *think* that is everything you need to know for now to get started. If there are any questions or if anything is unclear, please let me know in the comments below.

Further, I would love to hear your thoughts about this idea, and the process, below. I was a bit unsure about it at first, but I do think it would be a great way to shine the spotlight on others, which is something I love doing. When I mentioned this idea to Kristy of Full Time Fabulous, she said:

“It inspires reading the blogs of others which is so important… [it's] an excellent way to grow the community and wonderful to help introduce everyone to new bloggers!!”

I hope you feel the same way, and I look forward to seeing your submissions and hearing your feedback!

I’m absolutely loving this idea, B! I would love to contribute next week, and of course I’d love to see what everyone else submits. If there’s any way I can help with the copy-and-pasteable list, let me know. If you do it in HTML (I’m thinking that’s how LALM does it?) you can embed the code for copying in your entry with a simple HTML HERE code. (Just take out the asterisks.) Actually, it’s exactly how you did the code under your link back button so you probably already knew all of that. Ha!

I think this is a fantastic idea. I have submitted a couple of posts I’ve done to IFB without luck. I chose posts that I had worked HARD on (research, etc.). I’ve had other posts that surprisingly proved to be very popular…but couldn’t bring myself to submit to IFB again. I like this idea. I’m not so good at tooting my own horn, but I came across the work of others that I admire all the time.Terri latest blog post: End of January Blues 11-13

This is a really nice concept, although it may take me a few times to read through it. I’ve only just submitted my first ever Links a la mode post thanks to V’s post on how to do it. I think the way they worded it just confused the hell out of me.

Hi Arash – I know the instructions probably aren’t that easy to follow. It’s surprising how difficult it can be to write-up! V’s post on LALM was wonderful, but I think that process is a bit more complicated than this one.

For Links with a Twist: 1. Every Saturday (I changed this from Thursdays) I will create a new submission post. (This will be the place where everyone can share their latest submissions). 2. All submissions are due Friday. 3. The Links with a Twist post will go live Monday.

And then the cycle will start all over again. Does that make sense?

I appreciate all feedback, so any more suggestions or questions that you have through the process, please share!

LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea! You have outdone yourself, B. Yeah, I like the LALM, but this is so great. I get inspired everyweek by so gems, and I can appreciate the community building this will do. Bravo!

And thanks for that sweet link you just put to mine. I am repeatedly touched to the core by my good fortune to surround myself with such amazing and good spirited bloggers. xo. -Bella Q

Hi Bella, thank you so much! I really wanted to try and do something that was akin to LALM, but different at the same time. I am sure this will need some tweaking as we move forward, so i look forward to feedback from everyone!

I was happy to include the link, but I have a confession. Almost EVERY time I have tried to vote for you ladies I can’t. I have managed a few times, but mostly I either can’t get the pages to load at all OR I can never log in with my facebook account. I have even tried at work and at home. I don’t know if it is just me or what, but it is frustrating! Still trying, though!

The site isn’t very user friendly. I found that if you log into facebook, then click the hearts, it worked. Only one vote per contestant, so you’ve probably voted already. And thank you for your efforts!

This is a great idea, B! I’ve though about doing something similar, but I never really knew how. I’m happy you figured it out. And thanks for loving my post — your attention has just made my week!!!THE-LOUDMOUTH latest blog post: What you feel is what you are

Thanks, Stephanie. The hardest part was actually figuring out the logistics. After I wrote this post I *finally* figured out a way to do it as a separate page and allow comment submissions, instead of using a forum. I think that will be easier for everyone. Let me know how it works out if you do submit something!

Also, my pleasure about promoting that post. I really did love it. I don’t understand why that topic can still be so taboo in today’s society!

[...] As I mentioned earlier, the goal of this new feature is to shine the light on the work of others. It is about sharing a post written by someone else because it touched you in some way. Think about it – was there a particular post that made you laugh? Cry? Think? Was there one in particular that “spoke” to you? This is about sharing those posts – the ones that left an impact on us. [...]